Swedish National Food Agency hosts BigO meeting in Uppsala, Sweden 18 Sep

BigO consortium partners gathered for a fact-finding meeting in Uppsala at the behest of the NFA, to establish what information produced by BigO is desired by public health authorities to complement or enhance their own knowledge bases. Along with NFA, Karolinska Institutet, Wageningen University (NL), University College of Dublin (IRL) and Temple Street Children’s Hospital (IRL) participated in the event that saw the Public Health Agency of Sweden as the sounding board for the discussion.

In addition to BigO data being able to complement public health authorities’ own data collection and analysis, cross-country data comparisons were found to be a relevant study topic for public health authorities. The disparities between different national and local communities and makes it possible to adapt, use and deploy a variety of strategies depending on the circumstances.

The ambition of BigO is to – through the use of Big Data – describe the background and outcome of community behaviour regarding physical activity and eating patterns, to aid public health authorities deploy efficient strategies.